new car fever

the last two weeks i was helping a friend to find a new car, she had an accident earlier this year and her car was declared a total loss.  anyways, i have researched and found strategies of buying a car. i bought my first and only car with my uncle so he negotiated and talked to the agents. i was on standby. so i consider this my first time buying a car. from my research i found out about sticker price or MSRP, invoice price, holdback and warranties and a lot of extra things that i know i would never need for a car. according to The Simple Dollar, do your research online, find out about the car you're buying, is it reliable? does it answer all your needs? how much it's resale value? among other things that  should know aside from the car color. hehehehe. 

so my friend and i did a some test drives at Honda and Toyota. she's eyeing for a Honda civic and a toyota matrix.

 after this, she decided to go for the Honda civic. me on the other hand, is drooling over the toyota prius.  after that test drive i am crazy looking for reviews and researching frantically over the web about it. so for two weeks, i am deciding whether i should get a new car. i've written pros and cons about it.  there are certainly good upgrades regards with the new cars,

most of it have usb interface for ipods/mp3 player, speedometers are digital, things such as vehicle stability assist for safety reasons, good gas mileage are a plus. 

but thing is, my car "puti" is very reliable, it's a 2002 honda CRV, it's paid off a long time ago, aside from regular maintenance i really don't have any problems with it. not very good in gas mileage but still fuel efficient compared to other midsize SUVs. i kept asking myself "do i need this? do i need a new car payment?" .  and it made me realize that i don't.

i guess that sums it all up. 

i am keeping "puti" until it falls apart.